Comics Review: "Marada the She-Wolf"

Chris Claremont is best known for his 17 year run on the X-Men franchise, the sole reason the X-Men are even as famous as they are today. But little do some know, that he did other stuff, too. Not as prolific or high profile, but he did other stuff. And "Marada the She-Wolf" is one of them, it’s a three-issue long epic of swords and sorcery, now collected by Titan Books.

Marada the She-Wolf is a sword and sorcery fantasy brought to us by the legendary Chris Claremont from back in the 80s, originally published under Marvel’s EPIC imprint, now it is being republished here. Newly re-mastered by Titan Books and in its entirety; the story follows the granddaughter of Caesar himself, Marada, as she comes across villains of all manner of types. They’re all out to get her after hearing of her reputation as one of the fiercest warriors around. From demons to wizards to African queens, this is She-Wolf territory!

While each story leads directly into another, each one also gives us an entirely self-contained tale with a beginning, middle and end; very different than today’s comic standards. It took me until the second story though for me to grow any sort of attachment to Marada, as I feel the way we are introduced to her, and the story that goes along with that, well, intriguing introduction, is very lazy. As if Claremont was hoping for us to think Marada is the kind of gal who would willingly give herself to a man, and then turn her into a hardened battle warrior by the end of the adventure. And that would actually make for a very compelling read, if it were not for the fact, that by the time we meet her she already has a past of being a fierce warrior (a past we are told through one of the other characters).

The cover of the collection.

There are also several holes in Marada's story, right after her “origin”. While each story leads into the other, there are also several missed adventures in-between stories, that I would’ve liked to had seen (and in my personal opinion Marada would’ve worked better as an ongoing ‘venture than a three issue mini). I did enjoy the series though, and I would love to see Marada brought back for another, longer, solo.

I really enjoyed both the action and the character moments. Arianrhod, Marada’s adventure partner, felt very real and while many may see her as a hindrance to Marada’s journey, I did not see her that way at all. I thought she was quite likeable. Marada herself really came to life after she got her footing and became the warrior we were told outright that she is, and I felt myself warming up to her much more.

The action is beautiful to behold, from fighting demons and tentacle beasts, to pirates and sorcerers. My favorite, though, had to be the entirety of story two: Royal Hunt, where Marada and Arianrhod are put to a cat and mouse chase across Sahara, against a Queen, and with their lives at stake. There were a lot of great character moments in this, mostly down to Earth, story and the fight scenes were most fluid.

Speaking of fluid fight scenes, these are rendered beautifully by John Bolton, who does an amazing job throughout the entire book. Every page is stunning and bristling with detail; he really did his homework and it shows. There’s even a bit of before-its-time experimentation going on that Bolton dabbles in, that really makes this a treat. There is no nudity in this book, despite it being a more mature title. I was glad to see that, as nudity has become a general mainstay in anything that is allowed to be rated for teens+ these days, and it gets kind of old after a while.

The title page of story #2, "Royal Hunt"

Marada meets the demon Ygaron

The focus was on how the characters acted, and not how their bodies looked (though there is a lot of scantily-cladness going on here, I will not deny).

Titan did a great job of putting this hardcover together. It’s amazing to feel and hold and each page is crisp and of high quality. I really enjoyed the background features explaining certain aspects of the books, and the real life story behind Claremont writing this. One thing this book doesn’t have that does sadden me though, is that there is no illustration gallery or cover gallery in the back, and that would have quite simply been the icing on the cake, perhaps these can be added in later publications?

While there are quite a few of niggles to this story (more so in the first story than the later ones), and the ending leaves quite a lot to be desired, I did enjoy Marada and I can see myself reading it again plenty of times; if not for the art alone.

I suggest going out and getting this book, it’s already available and hey, you get to experience a piece of comic history, that perhaps was difficult to find before.